Backend Software Engineer

Senior AI Platform Backend EngineerStrategic Staffing Solutions is currently looking for a Senior AI Platform Backend Engineer, a W2 contract opportunity.Employment Type: W2 Only (No C2C or 1099) Duration: 12-month contract with a possibility to extend Location: St. Louis, Missouri Schedule: Hybrid-3 days per week; 1 day must be a Monday and Friday. Interview: first round via Teams, second round in person.Required Skills:5+ years of professional software engineering experience.Proven track record of shipping enterprise-grade production software.Strong experience with Node.js and TypeScript.Experience designing and supporting REST APIs and backend services.Experience with AWS in production environments.Working knowledge of Python and willingness to contribute when needed.Strong understanding of software architecture, system design, and distributed systems.Experience with Git, code reviews, and modern development practices.Understanding of CI/CD and automated deployment pipelines.Experience implementing logging, monitoring, and observability solutions.Knowledge of secure coding practices, API security, authentication, and OWASP fundamentals.Experience working within Agile development teams.Day-to-day: Backend Engineer responsible for building and maintaining backend services and APIs, supporting existing applications, fixing production issues, and developing new features. The role sits on an AI-focused team, offering exposure to AI technologies, but the primary focus is strong backend engineering rather than AI development. 3 must-have skills: Developing APIs in Node, JS and Typescript . Appropriate error handling to communicate what is going on the backend to the rest of the team.About the Role We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to design, build, and support the backend services that power our enterprise AI and knowledge management platforms. You will primarily work on a proprietary Content Management System (CMS) built with Node.js and TypeScript while contributing to Python-based services that support AI capabilities. This role focuses on scalable APIs, cloud-native services, and the systems that enable secure access to enterprise knowledge.What You Will Do:Design, build, deploy, monitor, and support production services.Develop and maintain REST APIs for content management, retrieval, and integrations.Enhance a CMS platform built with Node.js and TypeScript.Contribute to Python-based services supporting AI applications.Build reusable services and patterns that improve scalability and developer productivity.Review code and promote engineering best practices.Monitor, troubleshoot, and improve production systems.Partner with AI engineers, architects, and product teams to deliver secure, reliable solutions.Create and maintain technical documentation and API specifications.Nice to Have:Experience with content management, document processing, or knowledge management platforms.Experience supporting RAG or AI-enabled applications.Experience with AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, SQS, and S3.Experience with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code.Experience with OpenTelemetry, Grafana, or similar observability platforms.Experience designing event-driven architectures.Familiarity with OAuth, IAM, and modern authentication patterns.Experience working in highly regulated or security-conscious environments.AWS certifications.Mindset:Passionate about software quality, reliability, and maintainability.Takes ownership of production systems and outcomes.Focuses on building scalable, long-term solutions.Pragmatic problem solver who balances quality with delivery.Collaborative teammate who works well across engineering disciplines.Continuously learns and adapts to new technologies.Proactively improves systems, processes, and developer experience."Beware of scams. S3 never asks for money during its onboarding process."